A common question is why BHB is the go-to ketone body for exogenous ketone supplements. The likely reason is a combination of its efficient conversion into energy and its ease of formulation. In other words, that it is easier to formulate BHB into a nutritional supplement. And the body efficiently converts BHB to acetoacetic acid, which effectively raises blood ketone levels.
So if your high-fat diet includes a high amount of roasted seeds or roasted nuts, nut butters, heated oils such as heated coconut oil or heated extra virgin olive oil, barbecued meats or meats cooked at very high temperatures, then your triglyceride count is going to go up. You should have triglycerides that are less than 150mg/dL, and a triglyceride to HDL ratio that is no more than 4:1, and in most of the healthiest people I’ve worked with, triglycerides are under 100 and the triglyceride to HDL ratio is less than 2:1. If your ratio is whacked, your ketogenic diet isn’t doing you any favors.’
Recently, two published studies investigated the effects of ketone salts in athletes (total n = 22).8,9 Performance over a four-minute cycling time-trial and a 150 kJ ( ~11 mins) cycling time trial were compared between ketone salts vs. carbohydrate. In the four-minute trial there was no change in performance, and in the 150 kJ test, performance decreased by 7%. Blood BHB levels peaked at 0.6 and 0.8 mM in these studies.
Zenwise, you should consider offering this through an email subscriber list to gain **more** loyal (& repeat) customers by offering them better prices. We all know it's cheaper to find ways to keep customers than to go out and find new ones (about 5x cheaper in fact!), plus my guess is Amazon is getting 30% margin AT LEAST). If I saw that you offered a 25% discount when buying directly, I'd keep using the product.
Your body is trained to use glucose as its main energy source, but when you decrease your consumption of carbs, your body turns to another source of energy that is naturally produced by our own bodies--fat. Therefore, a great way to lose weight faster is to consume low-carb fruits, vegetables and other food that are specially designed for a low-carb diet.
Great question. We can’t see any reason this can’t be a part of a successful weight loss program on the ketogenic diet. In the morning with coffee is a very popular way to raise ketone levels in the morning. See if you are on pace with your goals and perhaps try a week with a different breakfast to see what feels best. Also – new article might be helpful here too: https://perfectketo.com/exogenous-ketones-for-weight-loss/ Good luck! 🙂
Over five visits, participants (n = 16) consumed either 4.4 mmol.kg−1 of βHB (2.2 mmol.kg−1 or 395 mg/kg of KE; 1 mole of KE delivered 2 moles of d-βHB equivalents): twice whilst fasted, and twice following a standardized meal, or an isocaloric dextrose drink without a meal. To improve palatability, drinks were diluted to 500 ml with a commercially available, citrus flavored drink containing 65 kCal (5 g of carbohydrate) (Glaceau, UK). The dextrose drink was taste-matched using a bitterness additive (Symrise, Holzminden, Germany). The standard meal consisted of porridge oats (54 g), semi-skimmed milk (360 ml) and banana (120 g), giving 600 kCal per person, with a macronutrient ratio of Carbohydrate: Protein: Fat of 2:1:1.
Recently, two published studies investigated the effects of ketone salts in athletes (total n = 22).8,9 Performance over a four-minute cycling time-trial and a 150 kJ ( ~11 mins) cycling time trial were compared between ketone salts vs. carbohydrate. In the four-minute trial there was no change in performance, and in the 150 kJ test, performance decreased by 7%. Blood BHB levels peaked at 0.6 and 0.8 mM in these studies.
I’ve tried this, got a few bags of one ketone salts bound to mostly potassium and another one bound to calcium. As for working out, I find that consuming 15-20 grams of glucose ( dextrose ) 30 minutes before either a HIIT or a heavy lifting session gives me a much, much bigger boost than ketones. so they just sit in my cupboard. I also got spooked about the amount of potassium i’d consume in one go ( don’t particularly fancy a cardiac arrest ). I find it a bit useful when I have a big meeting or something else that requires super concentration and I’m fasting, other than that – it’s pretty useless. I’d probably use more of it if I could find a formula that’s mostly sodium/magnesium based rather than potassium and/or calcium.
Hybrid strategy: A hybrid strategy is to follow a low-carb/high-fat ketogenic diet to induce nutritional ketosis and use ketone supplements strategically. Supplements like Ketone salts or MCT oil can help ease the transition into ketosis, they can be an effective tool when we are knocked out of nutritional ketosis and they can help push ketone levels higher in the body for added benefit.
This research is a good reminder to discuss with your doctor before taking any supplements. Given the widespread use of calcium supplements, more research is required before any final conclusions can be drawn. Several ketone companies have tried to avoid the large sodium loads but instead relied on a bump in the calcium content from the BHB ketone salts, seemingly without consideration for the aforementioned results. Calcium BHB will likely absorb slower compared to sodium BHB due to digestion and absorption kinetics. For those looking to optimize brain uptake of ketones, this probably isn’t the best strategy (as uptake is directly proportional to the levels in the blood). Be cautious of supplements running from the sodium and chasing the calcium BHB instead, and make sure you factor that into your overall daily needs.

Second, there are inherent metabolic differences between boosting ketones via diet and boosting ketones via supplements. On a ketogenic diet, ketones go up because you’re converting body and dietary fat into ketone bodies. A rise in endogenous ketones means you’re burning fat and building the requisite machinery to metabolize the new energy source. On exogenous ketones, ketones go up because you ate some ketones; conversion of body and dietary fat into ketone bodies goes down if anything.

Usually, you’ll find exogenous ketones in the form of powdered ketone salts. Less common are ketone esters, which are the purest form of ketones. Griffin says they work quickly (in 10 to 15 minutes, as opposed to an hour for the salts) and effectively, but they’re more expensive, have a more-revolting taste, and are harder to find (HVMN is one U.S. company that sells them). People also use medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil — or partially manmade fats — to put the body into a state of ketosis.

Do you need carbs to train? No. Again this is an anecdote only, but I have done numerous training sessions in a carb deprived state. Heck some of my best training sessions where done in a fasted, carb deprived state. And there are a lot of endurance athletes who are using a ultra-low carb/ketogenic diet and putting up some great times (more on this below).

Exogenous ketones are not a magical fat-loss supplement, and to suggest otherwise is both factually incorrect and deliberately misleading. In fact, consuming ketones to excess can hinder rather than help fat loss! Aggressive marketing of exogenous BHB’s has helped to create a myth being believed now by millions – that simply drinking ketones each day will somehow magically melt away the pounds. The metabolic fact that unscrupulous marketers do not point out is that dietary fat (plate fat; or fat/ketones you ingest) will be burned before stored fat (body fat). So, whilst exogenous ketones can help you to mitigate hunger (and therefore help you achieve a caloric deficit) – and although they also have many other benefits (detailed below); they are not a magic wand that you can wave to achieve weight or fat loss and should not be marketed as such.
88. Yost T, Erskine J, Gregg T, Podlecki D, Brass E, Eckel R. Dietary substitution of medium chain triglycerides in subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in an ambulatory setting: impact on glycemic control and insulin-mediated glucose metabolism. J Am Coll Nutr. 1994;13(6):615–22. doi: 10.1080/07315724.1994.10718457. [PubMed] [CrossRef]
Of course, there may be some people who choose to take these supplements because they genuinely do feel they benefit from them. This is of course your choice and this article in no way aims to shame or criticize anybody. However, I do think that, for most people, eating a low-carb diet based on real foods is a lot more likely to be associated with the benefits that the supplements claim to provide than the supplements themselves.
Caveat emptor: the following post doesn’t come close to answering most of these questions. I only document my experience with BHB salts (and a non-commercial version at that), but say little to nothing about my experience with BHB esters or AcAc esters. But it will provide you will some context and understanding about what exogenous ketones are, and what they might do for athletic performance. We’ll likely podcast about the questions and topics above and cover other aspects of exogenous ketones in more detail.

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Medical Disclaimer: The material on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.